Daria and Jane go to the Moon
by echopapa
Summary: Ticket to Ride. Our Heroines find themselves taking One Small Step...
1. Ticket To Ride

Daria and Jane Go to the Moon 

This story is respectfully dedicated to the memory of the gallant crews of: 

Apollo One; Soyuz One; Soyuz 11; STS-51L Challenger; STS-107 Columbia; 

and all others who have given their lives in the pursuit of the exploration of space. All of Humanity owes them a debt that can never be repaid. 

Part 1 - Ticket to Ride 

Daria and Jane are invited to take a little trip. 

"The failed assassination attempt in 1963 actually had the effect of assuring President Kennedy's reelection the following year." Daria's glasses slipped down her nose; she pushed them back in place and continued to read her report. "His realization that the war in Vietnam was getting out of control led to the United States entering into negotiations with Hanoi and the war coming to an end in 1966." 

"Still too late to prevent ME from having to spend a year in that CESSPOOL" Mr. DeMartino muttered. "Just because the war only lasted a couple of years everyone IGNORES the poor Vietnam vetI'm sorry, Daria. Please continue." 

Daria sighed and went on. "Speculation is that if the war had gone on any longer, U.S. preoccupation with it would have had a detrimental effect on the Apollo Moon program, causing it to peter out after the first landings in the early 70's, or perhaps being canceled altogether. Instead, the lunar program continued, and thanks to recent breakthroughs in superconducting maglev launch technology, we have the beginnings of a thriving lunar base today." 

"Thank you, Daria, for that intriguing report on the space program of the 1960's," said DeMartino. "Please be seated." Daria returned to her desk. In the distance, a faint "whup-whup-whup" sound signaled an approaching flyover from the Lawndale National Guard post. As it got louder, a pensive look clouded his face. "War makes a MAN of you, they said. Two weeks in country and I'm in a squad set down to find a missing pilot north of Da Nang. I was LUCKY to make it back ALIVE" He walked over to the window and stared, still muttering. 

"Missing would be a good thing to be right now," Daria turned to say to Jane when she snapped her head back and stared into space. "Missing. I thought something was wrong. Jane, where's Andrea?" 

"Andrea? She's right"- Jane stopped. "Come to think of it, I can't recall seeing her since last year." 

"Uh-huh. I haven't seen her in here or any other of our classes this year. How could we not notice that she hasn't been in school?" 

It's not like she keeps a high profile...I just assumed she was in a different class or something. Maybe she transferred to another school." 

"Yeah, that's probably it. I just thought it seemed strange." 

"Look, Daria, If you're really concerned, we can go check the PayDay after school today. If she's still working there, we can ask her what she's been up to." 

The girl looked up from her laptop. This was D-day, and they promised they wouldn't alert the media until she had this letter ready and sent. "Look, Ron, I appreciate the offer, but I've still got work to do, and it won't finish itself. Maybe next time." 

"Well, the new dome was finished this morning, and we wanted to have at least one game inside before they started on the interior." 

"I know. It's hard to play a decent game of basketball in the hangar; that ceiling is just too damn low. They keep saying they'll devote a habitat to a gym eventually, but-" 

"It's not a high priority. I've heard it before. Well, if you change your mind, be at the entrance in about ten minutes." Ron left. 

The girl set aside her computer, strode over to the dispenser, and punched up a cup of coffee, extra sweet, extra cream. Her deadline could wait a few minutes, she thought as she looked out of the cafeteria window. 

Sunrise was in a few minutes, and she never missed one if she could help it. She watched the construction equipment crawling in the valley below her, headlights twinkling while the first rays of the sun flared on the lunar peaks in the distance. 

Daria sat at her desk in Computer Lab. "You know, I wish the National Guard would quit flying their Hueys over the school," she said. "Every time they do, Mr. DeMartino gets all gleamy eyed and starts telling us his war stories." 

"Yeah, gleamy AND bloodshot," replied Jane, sitting next to her. "Someday he's gonna develop heat vision." 

Jane logged on to the SSW website and clicked on to the trailer for tonight's show. "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! Secret Identity, the deodorant for superheroes, next on Sick Sad World!" 

"Kevin bursting into flames? I can only hope," said Daria. She typed in her password and logged on herself. During her research on the space program she had stumbled onto a discussion site where a lively "What If?" argument was raging about what would have happened if Oswald had actually succeeded in killing Kennedy, and she was anxious to see what had been said in her absence. Before she could click onto the URL, Daria noticed she had mail. "Hmmm," she said, thoughtfully. 

"What?" 

"It's an e-mail with an attached file. The virus scanner says it's clean." 

"Are you sure?" Jane asked. 

"I updated it yesterday." Daria replied. "Besides, it's the school's computer. What do I care? Lemme see who it's from." Daria studied the screen. 

andrea@lunacorp.luna Shoemaker Base Archimedes Crater Luna 

Dear Daria, 

Daria read a couple more lines and let out a whuff of exhalation. "What is it?" asked Jane. 

"It's Andrea," Daria said, not taking her eyes off the screen. "She's on the Moon." 

"Yeah, right. Artie's delivering pizzas again, eh?" 

"Read for yourself," said Daria. Jane slid over and joined her. 

Dear Daria, 

In case you noticed, I guess you now know where I've been this school year. Why am I writing to you, of all people? Well, you and Jane, because I am assuming she is reading this with you; for reasons, which will become apparent later. 

How did I get on the Moon? Well, it had to do with me trying to find a scholarship which would get me the furthest from Lawndale. Lunacorp was in the first year of its engineering scholarships, which not only paid full tuition, but also had a lunar intern program, the first tour taking place the freshman year. I figured: what the hell? I did pretty well in Barch's classes, and at any rate it was better than that miserable job I had at PayDay. I applied. A few weeks later I discovered I was a finalist; they were going to interview me at LHS before they made their final decision. I played it straight at the interview - just a blouse and slacks, and only a bit of makeup. I needn't have bothered, though; the interviewer came in, took one look at me, shook my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Rudy. You're a Goth, aren't you?" It turned out that he was one too, in college. He still liked to freak out unsuspecting colleagues. 

The interview went pretty well. Lunacorp is always on the lookout for robotics majors, and I think that my research paper I did for Barch on VR and teleprescence sealed the deal. 

During the interview, Rudy mentioned that they were looking for some new kind of publicity angle, perhaps inviting an artist or a writing student to come up to the base and give their stories to the press from a young person's point of view. 

A flash of inspiration hit me. "I know where you can find both" To make a long story short, he looked at some of your essays that O'Neill had copied and some drawings of Jane that Defoe had. "Hmmm. Shows promise," Rudy said with a gleam in his eye. "I'll show my bosses copies of this stuff, and we may have an announcement to make." 

"I can see Andrea getting a scholarship, but how did she keep it a secret?" Jane said. "I mean a Lawndale High student going to the moon? Ms. Li would get a heart attack just thinking about that kind of publicity." 

I got the scholarship, and since I almost had enough credits for a diploma last summer, Li agreed to let me graduate early. I spent three months training Earthside and then hopped the Slingshot. I've been here at Shoemaker ever since, majoring in robotics and learning how to be a Lunatic. 

"That explains Andrea's absence," said Daria, "but I would still like to know how in hell she managed to keep a thing like that out of the press?" 

The intercom interrupted. "Ms. Morgendorffer, Ms. Lane, Please report to my office," it rasped. 

"I've got a funny feeling I may know the answer," Jane said, listening. 

I hate publicity, though, so I struck a deal with Lunacorp, and they did with Ms. Li. In exchange for my quietly getting out of Dodge, they get to announce their "Artists - To - The - Moon" program with all the pomp and fanfare their black little hearts can muster. They're finally ready, so when you logged on today, this e-mail was sent; and the press notified. Enjoy. 

Ad Luna, 

Andrea 

Daria clicked open the attached file. "Greetings," it said. "Lunacorp congratulates you and cordially invites you and Jane Lane to be our guests" 

Li's voice again interrupted their reading. "Ms Morgendorffer, Ms Lane, we - er, I'm waiting." 

Daria looked at Jane. "Oh, no!" she said. "I don't believe it!" 

"I'm afraid so," said Jane. "Andrea got back at us for that whole PayDay thing by sending us to the Moon." 

Daria swung around and faced Jane. "The Moon? No way. I don't even like field trips." 

"Come on, 'Dar', It'll be a blast." 

"Very Funny, 'Val'. I think, though, that this is a little further out than New York. Besides, spacecraft haven't 'blasted' in years. It's more like Superman flinging a rock into the Sun. That's where the name Slingshot came from." 

"Well, I think that it's a golden opportunity. I have books on space art by Bonstell, Freas and Summers. Last year, the Lawndale Museum had an exhibit by Al Bean. I spent almost an hour just gazing at one painting he did of an astronaut hitting a golf ball on the Moon, flying hundreds of yards away from him and his shipfrom the ball's perspective! He has remained the only artist who has ever been in space, and he took up art only after he had been to the moon. Can you imagine what a trained artist in space could create?" Jane had a faraway look in her eyes, no longer seeing Daria. "I may not get another opportunity like this the rest of my life.I've decided." Jane's gaze returned to her friend. "With or without you, Daria, I'm going to the Moon. But - I would like my best pal with me." 

"You're really passionate about this, aren't you?" said Daria. She thought. "I remember those early stories about trips to the Moon. I admit I daydreamed a lot after reading Clarke and Heinlein. Okay. I'll go. If I can sell my folks on it, that is." 

As they approached the principal's office a sea of reporters standing at the door left Ms Li and rushed over to the duo, pushing cameras and microphones in their faces. 

"How does it feel to be the first teenagers on the Moon?" 

"Get that thing out of my face!" said Daria. "You know there are already-" 

"How does it feel to be the first artists on the Moon?" 

"Jane, are you going to paint something to mark this occasion?" 

"Daria, we look forward to you sending us thrilling accounts of your sojourn to the stars" 

As the cacophony rose among shouts of Li yelling "For the glory of Llaaawndale High", Daria sighed and said to Jane, "Well, Tom always said he would follow me to the Moon. Let's see him put his money where his mouth is." 

Andrea returned to her quarters, snapped on the light, and flung herself onto her bed, immediately bouncing back into the air. She grabbed a desk edge to steady her, and came down again with no further bounces. She loved the low gravity, but every once in a while, habits of a lifetime still took over. Her four hours in the telepresence lab were brutal. The visor pinched her neck, and the harness chafed. She really had to get it better adjusted before her next session. 

She got up to and headed for the bathroom, intending to take a shower and a nap. Just then her door chimed. "Come in", she said, the door unlatching at the sound of her voice. . 

Ron burst past her and into the room. "Where's your remote?" He spied it on the bed, grabbed it and tapped a couple of keys. 

"Hey! Don't change that! Ralph matches my mood right now." 

"Later. Look what's on CNN!" Andrea's wall painting of a werewolf stalking a strolling couple on a fog enshrouded night in old London instantly became an announcer speaking over the graphics of Daria and Jane wearing bubble helmets riding a rocket, cowboy style, into outer space. 

"-endorffer and Jane Lane have been chosen by Lunacorp to be the first participants in their "Artists To The Moon" internship program. This serves as more evidence that the Moon is fast becoming just another place to live and wo-" Andrea muted the sound. 

"Is that all it takes to get to the Moon?" Ron quipped. "If I had known that, I would have just paid more attention in art class; forget all that physics stuff. DariaHmm. Aren't she and Lane the two friends you're always going on about from high school? 

"I never said they were my friends." 

"Yeah, right. You just talk about them more than you do anyone else." Ron thought a bit. "Hey - did you know about this?" 

Andrea chuckled. "Well, let's just say that I had a debt to pay." 

Daria came through the front door and thoughtfully shut it behind her. 

"Oh, hi, Daria," said Quinn. "Listen, could you give me a ride to Cashmans? All my usual guys have football practice and Mom won't be home for two hours." 

"I'm going to the Moon," Daria said woodenly. 

"Look, Daria, if you don't want to take me, just say so, don't make up weird stories." 

"No, really. I'm going to the Moon." 

"Whatever. Just don't let them make you wear one of those horrible outfits with the big helmet thing, nobody looks good in something like that." 

"Quinn - read my lips: I. Am going. To the Moon." 

Quinn looked at Daria for a moment, then turned to yell up the stairs. "Daaad! Daria's losing all sense of reality!!" 

CYA time. I don't own Daria, I know who does, I'm not making any money off this, please don't sue. There, that should do it. 

Author's note: Yes, I do intend to send Daria and Jane to the Moon in later parts of this serial. This story got its start a couple of years ago while I was watching "From The Earth To The Moon". It got me thinking about the way it should have been; we should have Moonbases by now. I thought, Why not?" and came up with a ficlet about Andrea as a lunar explorer writing to Daria at home. Then I realized that I had to send Daria herself. Thus, the story as written. Tell me what you think. 

My thanks to beta readers Robert Nowall, Gabby Patel, Um, and especially to Mike Yamiolkoski, who gave me permission to use his kitchen scene at the end. 

Stanley Hollinshead 

AKA echopapa 

September 7, 2003 


	2. It Won't Be Long

Late that night, Jane slipped out of bed, dressed, and pulled on a hooded jacket. She grabbed the telescope from its usual place in the living room, carried it out into the front yard and set it up; taking care of the lighting situation in the…usual way. It had been a while since she had done any serious observing, but the joy had kind of gone away after she missed discovering that comet by one lousy night...oh well, "Hale-Bopp" sounded cooler that "Comet Lane" anyway... The Moon was low in the west, but still above the tree line. She checked the accessory tray. Jane would need both the 4 mm eyepiece and the Barlow for this one. She slid the assembly into place, sharpened the focus, and teased the slow motion knobs... She couldn't quite remember where it was, but...there! Right on the night side of the terminator, near the southern limb. Like a cluster of embers, Shoemaker glittered in the darkness. She pulled her pad and a pencil from her pocket and started sketching.

"Checking out our place of exile, are we?" Daria quipped over her shoulder.

"Augh!" Jane jumped. "Daria, don't sneak up on me like that! What are you doing here, anyway? It's three in the morning!

"The same as you. I couldn't sleep. I got up to get a drink, and the moonlight streaming through the window got me thinking about this damfool stunt you talked me into. I decided to take a walk, and next thing I know I was at your house, and I saw that your street light was broken again. I knew what that meant."

"Yeah, darn shame; they don't make street lights like they used to." Jane said, nudging an errant golf ball into the bushes with her foot. "So, how did your parents take the news?"

"It was strange. Right after I got home the yard started filling up with satellite trucks and reporters. Dad freaked, just as I thought he would, but it was Mom who talked him into it. I think that she sees my going to the Moon as the ultimate extracurricular activity."

"I couldn't get hold of my Mom," said Jane, "But I remembered Dad's sat phone number and found him in a camp on the Mongolian steppes. He seemed to think she would be all right with me going. Have your folks signed the waivers yet?"

"Yeah," Daria replied. "A FedEx messenger came right after the reporters left with a thick packet with all kinds of schedules and itineraries and releases and things. Mom plowed through all that legalese in fifteen minutes and said that she hadn't seen such airtight language since the Apple record/Apple Computer settlement. I hadn't had a chance to read it yet. What does the schedule say?"

Jane corrected the drifting Moonbase in the eyepiece and looked up. "Well, in two weeks we leave for six weeks of training in Colorado. After that, we get one week back home, then they fly us to Mauna Kea, we ride the Slingshot up to catch the shuttle, and we land on the Moon three days later...speak of the devil!" Jane pointed to a spark that flared up in the southeast and drifted towards the horizon.

"Why? What's that?"

"That's _Asimov_, the space station," replied Jane. "She just emerged from Earth's shadow. We''ll spend about a day on her before we're aligned for a lunar trajectory.

They stared for a minute, then Daria turned back to the telescope. "I must have passed by this thing hundreds of times, but I thought it was just a conversation piece."

"Yeah, Dad bought it about five years ago intending to use it for astrophotography", Jane said. "He never did, but I caught the astronomy bug instead and I've been stargazing on and off ever since. I have a couple of pads of sketches in my room somewhere. Wanna see?" Jane motioned to the eyepiece.

Daria removed her glasses and squinted. After a couple of twitches of the focus knob, she could barely make out the dusting of lights of Shoemaker base in the lunar darkness. After another moment she noticed a brighter light winking every second or so. "One of em's flashing," she said to Jane.

"Yeah, that's a landing beacon," Jane replied. "It's a backup for the lunar GPS system." She yawned. "I'm gonna call it a night." She started to break down the telescope.

"Yeah. I guess we've got a big day tomorrow," Daria said. She turned and headed back, glancing one last time at the sinking orb which would soon be her temporary home.


	3. Day Tripper

Day Tripper

"Once again, ladies and gentlemen, here's the drill. Our plane is ascending to an altitude of 33,000 feet, wherein we will perform a series of parabolic arcs, at each peak the plane will dive and we will sustain a condition of zero g for approximately 30 seconds. Make sure you have your airsickness bags in your jumpsuit's front pocket. First dive in one minute." The microgravity coach turned to the intercom to tell the pilot that her students were ready. Daria checked her seat harness. She and Jane were strapped in the back of the plane, along with Charles Ruttheimer III.

"Whose bright idea was it to have Upchuck with us?" said Jane.

"Ms Li's," Daria replied. "Lawndale High got to send a school journalist to cover our 'mission', and he was the best reporter the media department had, they said."

"You mean he's going to be with us until we leave Earth?"

"I kind of wish he would leave and we stay here," said Daria.

"Ladies, you wound me," said Upchuck, holding up an HD camcorder. "Forget I'm even here."

"If only we could," Jane said.

LunaCor's zero g training aircraft continued its climb over the skies of New Mexico, then suddenly crested the top of an imaginary hill and dove for the earth below.

The increasing heaviness they were feeling vanished, making Daria feel as if she were in a falling elevator. The queasiness passed after a few seconds and she unbuckled her harness. "Okay, easy," said her coach. "Grab hold of the handholds on the wall and pull yourself up. You too, Jane."

Daria found herself headed towards the cabin ceiling when her hands missed her grip. She bounced off, and headed back down in a slow spin. Just as she touched down, she felt the grip of gravity as the plane reached the bottom of the arc and headed up once more.

"Ow! My ass!" grimaced Daria. "Jane! Stop this crazy thing!"

"How long have you been waiting to say that?" said Jane, lying face down beside her. "Whoops! Here we go again!"

With each period of weightlessness they found it a bit easier to move about. Daria and Jane were soon tumbling and spinning like dolphins until suddenly, it hit. The contents of her stomach were letting themselves known that they wanted out, and Daria barely got to the airsickness bag in time.

Jane floated to Daria's side. "C'mon, Daria! Don't let 'Ralph' win! You can - ulp!" She whipped out her own bag.

Unfortunately, Daria missed hers, and it was only the fact that the plane was at the bottom of another arc that kept her breakfast from floating all over the cabin. The coach crawled over with some towels and quickly mopped up the mess.

"Happens all the time," said the coach. "You'll get used to it. Just hang on and sit out the next couple of arcs." She floated back, and they sat until they began to feel better.

Charles had kept his camera on them all this time. "Don't worry, ladies. I'm sure that a little skillful editing, I can keep this incident from seeing the light of day - for a price," Upchuck smiled.

Daria forgot all about her airsickness. "How would you like my boot as payment? You can keep the change." Squinting, she said, "Wait a minute. How come you aren't sick?"

Charles shrugged. "Don't know why. All my life I've ridden planes, trains, the wildest roller coasters made. Never bothered me a bit."

"You mean to say," grimaced Jane, "That a guy with a nickname of 'Upchuck' is -"

"Immune to motion sickness," finished Daria, burying her forehead in her palm.


	4. We Can Work It Out

One midmorning a week before launch found our Heroines jogging around the track at LunaCor's Albuquerque training center. Daria lagged behind Jane's quick pace. Both wore white T-shirts and blue shorts soaked in sweat.

"C'mon, Jane, I'm dyin' here!" Daria huffed. "Can't we take a break?"

"Not yet, Morgendorffer! You remember what the flight surgeon said. We've got to get conditioned now so it will be easier for us to stay in shape once we're on the moon."

"Well, it's easier for you, Jane. You've been running for years," Daria said. "The fastest I've ever moved was to grab the last slice of pizza at the Prince."

Jane flashed an evil grin. "And you're paying for it now, aren't you? Well, I guess we've had enough." They broke stride, walking to cool down.

"Damnit, Jane, I didn't think we would have to _run_ to the moon."

"They thought about it, but our suits could never get rid of the heat we'd generate." Jane gestured at a bench at trackside. "Let's sit here. I've got a rock in my shoe." They sat down.

"Finally," said Daria. After a few minutes of panting, she said, "So, about the patch. Have you come up with any ideas?"

Jane's thoughts went back to that morning. Mission Director Ron Sanders had called them in after breakfast. "Ladies," he said, "I realize that this is short notice, but the Powers That Be kind of threw this mission together at the last minute. Anyway, Jane, I would like you and Daria to design a mission patch - something you can wear on your uniforms and that we can use on press releases, PR and all that.

"What about royalties?" Daria asked. "Would we get a lump sum, or a percentage of sales?"

Sanders grinned. "I could tell that your mother's a lawyer. Hmmm-" he thought a moment. "NASA is not for profit, but LunaCor is a contractor, and we are _definitely_ for profit. How about a split? 50% for the NASA scholarship fund, and 50% in scholarships for you and Jane after you get back to Earth.

"40/60," Jane said. "My paints are kind of expensive."

"Agreed," Sanders said. "Speaking of paints, be sure you turn in that list of supplies you need to Environmental Systems. We have to make sure that they're compatible with Shoemaker's life support. See you later."

Jane's mind snapped back to the present. "Well, I think that the patch should reflect our various disciplines - visual arts for me and writing for you."

Daria said, "Yeah, I was thinking along those lines. I think it needs a Latin motto, too. Maybe "Innfirmus, Tristis Mundus."

Jane laughed. "Even I know enough Latin to know we'd never get away with that. When we get back to the dorm let me see what I can come up with on the computer."

Later, Jane showed Daria her screen. "I didn't want to make the shape too complex, so I used a round patch," Jane typed on the keyboard and made a few swipes with her mouse, the circle filled with black, and shapes appeared. "A palette and brush for me, a scroll and quill for you."

Daria leaned forward and drew a curve on the screen with her finger "How about the moon right here?"

Jane complied, and an arc with craters appeared at the bottom of the screen. She typed in "Lane - Morgendorffer" in a curve at the bottom of the patch and then turned to Daria. "The motto?" She asked.

"Astrum in fabrica, fabrica in astrum," Daria replied. "Stars into art, art into stars."

"I like it. One more thing," said Jane, and put in a short string of fuzzy pearls in the upper left of the patch, balancing the moon in the lower right.

"Perfect," said Daria. "Send a copy to Quinn. If it passes her review, our patch may be on millions of chests soon."

"Or butts," replied Jane.


End file.
